Target Setting...

[NWJocko]

From reading the posts on here it is clear that a large number of you set very specific targets for yourself (mainly to reduce handicap by x) in a season etc.

As I only started up this year my only aim was to get back playing. I am now well and truly hooked so job done!

Thinking on to next season, I will likely set myself some targets but just interested how you go about it, i.e.

- are the targets realistic or more on the aspirational side to push yourself more?

- do you break them down, say improve handicap by 2 shots so in order to do that I need to focus my improvement on a particular area driving/mid irons/putting etc?

- do you have a more long term target (single figures, cat1 etc) that your yearly targets are part of working towards?

Sat at work looking at the sunshine so thoughts drifting towards next spring already..... I realise theres plenty golf left over the winter but the general feeling seems to be all bets are off when it comes to winter golf!

 

[GB72]

I gave myself a handicap target for the year but actually found it more of a hindrance. Started feeling the pressure to cut my handicap in every comp and stopped enjoying it. Gave up on it, relaxed and started enjoying it all again and putting in better scores.

Lesson for next year is, no target just enjoy.

 

[Losttheplot]

I tend to set a target of playing good golf and playing as much as I can and practise when I can too. Hopefully the handicap will take care of itself and so will the scores.
If your playing and practising then your weak areas can be addressed quickly and you get back on the road quickly too.
My target as well as a fitness drive will be to settle into my new club (joining hopefully before the turn of the year) and practise hard with the local pro so I'm fit and raring to go come April time.

 

[Matt_B]

I set myself a target handicap this year but it's looking increasingly likely not to happen! To be honest, I think it just plays on the mind too much.

Go out there and play your own game. You'll know at the end of every round which aspects you need to work on, whether it's wayward tee shots, 3+ putts or duffed fairway approaches. Nail each part of your game and your handicap will come tumbling down.

Easier said than done, of course! I must get down that range...

 

[patricks148]

Gave myself the target of getting down to single figures this year. Started at 11.4 and got down to 8.6 and was happy with that till I got a case of the shermans.

Have now set myself the task of getting a new swing over the winter with lessons starting the end of this month.

 

[SwingSlow]

Started with a handicap target, but like others in the thread found it was getting in the way. So now have performance targets that if I can keep to, should help on the handicap side.

For example, trivial things like keeping the ball in play, but makes me think about course management; try and score on every hole in Stableford, but should make me play the percentage game (singularly failed yesterday 35 points, but with 3 blobs - if only I had played the percentages!); keep focused on the shot in hand; laugh off the bad shots, etc.

Helps me enjoy the game, play better (usually) and I am a nicer person to play with, which means more rounds!

 

[beggsy]

i set myself a target this year of getting to 15 i was off 19 i got there with ease off the handicap secretary cut under general play and so decided to set myself a target then of 12 which also i got down to and i played with the handicap secretary last saturday and he kindly told me that i will be playing off a lower handicap for next season so targets do work for some people

 

[NWJocko]

SwingSlow,

I like the sound of your approach actually. Setting targets whereby the handicap movement is a consequence of achieving (or trying to achieve) them.

Takes the pressure off focussing directly on the handicap number which others have alluded to here.

Must admit I haven't had anything to work towards in real terms this year and have improved quite a bit so might go down your route.....

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Foolishly set a figure at the start of the blog with the plan to track glorious progress. Instead it's a tale of one mans inablity to construct 18 consecutive holes together in competitions intersperced with some brief glimmers of hope during social games.

I gave up worrying too much about it about the same time I took the forum advice to ditch the 300 swing thoughts I had on every round. The net result is I'm enjoying it more even if the results still frustrate the crap out of me. I'm less stressed before, during and after a round and even the practicing has reduced in favour of playing more this summer.

I have a target to make a few tweaks to my swing starting on the 21st to try and get more consistency. I'm not going to go down the major swing reconstruction route but just need to work on reducing (I doubt without 000's of hours work I'll ever eradicate) the lateral movement I have in the downswing. Thats all I'm doing and I'm limiting winter lessons to a maximum of four starting next week through to the clocks changing in March. I may have one quick short game/putting as a refresher once the season starts depending on where my game is.

 

[MashieNiblick]

I absolutely endorse what SwingSlow said.

I too found handicap targets were stopping me from enjoying my game. I switched to more focussed things like improving my chipping to get up and down more, playing my "bogey" holes smarter, etc. This meant that even if I scored badly, if I chipped well or made par at one of the bogey holes I could take something positive away from the round. Same result as SwingSlow; I found I enjoyed my golf more.

My handicap didn't change much (+/- 1 shot) but I stopped regarding it as an end in itself, it was simply a rough indication of how well I'd played that year.

Even if you do set a h'cap target you still have to work out how you're going to get there (e.g. improving your driving or practising your putting more).

I appreciate it might be different if you are just starting but I'd still endorse setting performance goals and let the h'cap take care of itself.

 

[RGDave]

My only target is to swing it better, hit it better and improve my putting/short game.
I don't necessarily want my h'cap to move, if does, all well and good.
t.b.h. most of the year is spent trying to capture the summer form I tend to break into when I have time to practise and plenty of daylight hours to enjoy.

 

[richart]

No targets, just aim to enjoy the game. As soon as i don't i will get back on the tennis court.

I played to a reasonable standard as nipper, and know i will never get back there again. I actually enjoy playing more now with my mates, especially the banter on the course and in the bar afterwards. Hopefully meet a few more characters on the course from on here.

Life is too short to take it too seriously.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

My targets were to rebuild my swing, get to single figures a beat my PB.

Unfortunately I think the 1st one has hindered the 2nd and 3rd.

My swing has improved beyond all recognition but it occurred to me a couple of weeks ago that I haven't played a round of golf this year when I haven't been thinking about my swing. So I canned my last lesson and am now just trying to get to a point where I'm not thinking about too many things and just playing.

My handicap went down to 10.6 by May but has crept back up to 11.4, still lower than where I started but not as low as I'd hoped.

I'v only got within 2 of my PB as well despite putting myself in position a few times but that is a mental thing.

I'm running out of time to get to single figures but if I don't do it, it'll just be my target for next year.

If I'm honest, my course has hindered me as well. Being a public course and one of the most popular courses in the area means playing after work has been so difficult I gave up trying. In the last few years I've been able to get 9, sometimes 18, holes after work but this year it's been so busy I've had to settle for the range which we all know is not much good. Next year I'll be stumping up the cash to join a private course so I can play more.

 

[NWJocko]

Glad I posted this now I must admit.

I've been thinking for a while of setting fixed targets for next year and tbh honest had started worrying about it already!

From all the responses I think I will definitely go down the route of improving my game and take whatever handicap that gives me at the end of it all.

Never had lessons in my life before but think I may invest in a chipping/putting lesson, hate to think how many shots are squandered around the greens.......

 

[Alex1975]

I very much set myself a target and as I achieve it I make another. It is important to set realistic targets in any target scenario or you are just doing it as a process and it serves nothing and no one.

The targets I set myself are very simple, something like “cut my handicap from 28 to 18 in the next two years, starting on X date” but there is a mental sub section that states that I must do everything in my power to make it happen. That means lessons, regular practice and competing. I then break that down into mental work, putting and chipping, range work and practice/social rounds.

Along the way I will hit brick walls and even go backwards but however I deal with that the target does not go away. Homer was saying that he had an issue with too many swing thoughts and I currently have the same thing to the point of actually destroying my swing and crushing my confidence. The only way to deal with it is as he says, pull back, relax and enjoy playing. A friend and fellow former patiently let me rant at him on the phone the other day about how my swing is f***ed and that I have been trying this and that to help it and even my wife can see it. He let me blab on some until he had heard enough and said to me. It’s something different every week Al, you need to work on one thing for six weeks or two months not every day for a week at the range in your dreams and on the forum. There were not his words actually, more my interpretation of them.

The fact that I have to slow down and do things in a less FRANTIC MAKE IT HAPPEN way does not mean that I have to change my target but that I have to work smarter to achieve it.

I went from 28 to 19 this year I now have a year to lose this last shot to make my target, way the harder end of the target I would say as I would think at this point I may well get a few of those shots back before I lose them again.

My main aim is to get to 9 but I would think there will be a target or who before I make that my current target.

Al

 

[Imurg]

My seasons targets have been met with the exception of playing some new courses. Single figures has been acheived - still a couple of chances to get as low as 7 for the winter - and a couple of comps in the bag too. Not big ones but wins all the same.
Next season will be one of consolidation. I'll be chuffed if I can keep dropping the handicap but maintaining the 8 I've got is the first priority. Enjoying my golf is also high up the list.

Oh and beating Fragger - but that's mostly a given innit?

 

[Alex1975]

Oh and beating Fragger - but that's mostly a given innit?

You going to take that Frag?

 

[Farneyman]

I like targets and use them all the time in work and at the golf. I link targets with stats. I am always trying to play better, best front 9, back 9, first 6 holes, putts, fairawys hit etc etc

The important thing about any target is that it must be S.M.A.R.T

S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Achievable
R - Realistic
T - Time based

In other words they have to make sense. Google SMART targets and you will get the drift.

On the other hand some folk think they are a waste of time but personally I think they are well work pursuing in whatever format you like.

 

[JT77]

This is what I set myself for the year, they were realistic, but was never really going to achieve them all. so they were to push myself too.


• Win a medal (no, won a sat comp though)
• Win Captains Day(no)
• Break 75 (best round this year 75)
• Reduce handicap to 7 ( i wish)
• Level par front 9 (tick)
• Level par back 9 (tick)
• Enjoy playing ( sure have)
• Practice twice a week ( and then some)
• Win an open (nopes!! )
• Do not lose my temper (almost never, once maybe)
• Take Bairns to range (sure did, they didnt like it! lol)

Will set ones for next year too, prob around march time.
Still have my club matchplay final to play .

 

[Tiger]

I'm probably the best example of how a handicap target can screw you up and your enjoyment. Next year. No targets. Just play as much as possible, practice as much as possible and have fun!